Many people paying attention to eminent domain issues, disputes, and outrages are aware of how Rock Hill took the home (via court action) of Drs. Rob and Judy Hanson in order to facilitate a development by Novus. Apparently, it was not enough for Rock Hill to forcibly take the Hansons’ home, against their will, in order to build a strip mall to meet the desperate retail needs of mid-county.

Now, because the Hanson family allowed neighbors and friends to remove some fixtures (wood, doors, etc.) from the home before they were forced to vacate it, Rock Hill is suing the Hanson family for a half-million dollars in damages!!! The important thing to note here is that the house was scheduled to be torn down by Novus!!! Novus had plans to demolish the entire house, and indeed did demolish it in January, before which the Hansons sold some of the home’s fixtures, donating the money to Habitat for Humanity. In the interest of clarity, Rock Hill did own the home at the time the Hansons sold the fixtures. Nobody denies that, but to sue for a half-million dollars is unjustifiable, in my opinion, for a house that was set to be demolished.

In my opinion, this is truly one of the most abusive lawsuits I have ever heard of. Here is the petition for the lawsuit, which may be nothing more than a bullying attempt by Novus and Rock Hill to get the Hansons to drop their ongoing request for a jury trial to determine the fair value of their seized home. No matter what, it is an outrageous example of the serious problems with eminent domain laws in our state.